About

Atul Kumar

Founder Trustee

Atul has worked actively on civic issues, particularly pertaining to the protection of open spaces, heritage conservation of south Mumbai’s Art Deco precinct, and its nomination to UNESCO as a World Heritage site. He is passionate about conservation and good governance. He is on the Board of Directors of the International Coalition of Art Deco Societies (ICADS) and Chairs their Preservation Committee. He has lectured and presented at the World Congress on Art Deco in Miami, Malaysian Heritage Society, Art Deco Society of New York (ADSNY), INTACH Greater Mumbai Chapter, Tourist Guide Association (TOGA), Mumbai, Rachana Sansad’s Academy of Architecture, INTACH Heritage Academy and others. He has been published in Hindustan Times, Mid-Day, Mumbai Mirror.

Shirin Bharucha

Trustee

Shirin retired as Legal Advisor to TATA companies in 2001. She is a Trustee on several Trusts spanning arts, culture, music, education, preservation of open spaces and social welfare including the CSMVS (Prince of Wales Museum), National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), UDRI, OVAL Trust, Art Deco Mumbai Trust and others.

Prof. Mustansir Dalvi PhD

Trustee

Mustansir Dalvi, recently retired, was the longest serving Professor of Architecture in the University of Mumbai. He received his PhD Degree from the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay for his doctoral research: Buildings as Text: Developing a Semiotic of Bombay’s Art Deco Architecture (1930-1949). Dalvi is the author of The Romance of Red Stone: An Appreciation of Ornament on Islamic Architecture in India (Super Book House) and The Past as Present: pedagogical practices in architecture at the Bombay School of Art (Sir JJ/UDRI). He is the editor of 20th Century Compulsions (Marg), a collection of writings about early Indian modernist architecture.

Sujata P Kumar

Trustee

Sujata is a successful businesswoman, Director on several public companies and committed to social causes particularly in healthcare and education. She is a Trustee of Kasturba Health Society, Wardha and Parekh Foundation

Renu Basu

Member, Advisory Board

A veteran Sales and Marketing Professional with over 30 years of experience in Customer Management, Sales, and Marketing. Former Sr. Vice President Global Sales & Marketing at Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), part of the executive management committee. Years of working directly with customers, industry forums, travel industry including captains of industry, has resulted in deep customer relationships at multiple levels across corporates, large industrial houses, and tourism. In the past, represented the organization at National and International forums including CII, Bombay Chamber of Commerce, and PATA India Chapter. Renu enjoys a strong reputation for being a people’s person, of trust, and an authentic leader.

Vikas Dilawari

Member, Advisory Board

Vikas Dilawari is a practising conservation architect with over three decades of experience. If there is a historic landmark in Mumbai, you can be sure Vikas had a role to play in it. He was Head of the Department of Conservation at Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute of Architecture (KRVIA), Mumbai, from its inception in 2007 till August 2014. His practice has successfully executed over 50 projects. Eighteen projects have won the UNESCO ASIA PACIFIC Awards for Cultural Preservation in South East Asia. He was also instrumental, along with INTACH Mumbai Chapter, to nominate the erstwhile Victoria Terminus station as a World Heritage Site (WHS) in 2004.

Dr. Jehangir Sorabjee

Member, Advisory Board

Dr. Jehangir Sorabjee is currently a Honorary Prof. of Medicine and heads the Department of Medicine at the Bombay Hospital Institute of Medical Sciences. A keen photographer, his book of aerial pictures of Mumbai – “Above Bombay” (2006) has been widely acclaimed and photographs from this series have been exhibited at the Venice Biennale, The Tate Modern, and the Canary Islands Biennale. He has a keen interest in the history of Colonial Bombay often speaks on this and related topics.

Vishaka Bhat

Head, Documentation & Digital Assets

Vishaka is an architect deeply invested in documenting Mumbai’s Art Deco heritage while promoting awareness and appreciation for its historical significance. After graduation, she worked on commercial building projects at an architectural firm. She enjoys writing, travelling and exploring relationships between society, culture and the built environment. You can spot her with her camera capturing buildings as she helps build the Photo documentation initiative poring over pictures, evaluating structures and creating documentation panels.

Suhasini Krishnan

Head, Outreach & Content

Suhasini is a writer, editor and creative producer with a background in Film Studies and History. Her research interest in Mumbai is guided by the city's dynamism, which lent itself to a thriving film industry, visibly modern urban forms, and livelihoods of all kinds. A journalist by qualification, she does a bit of everything at Art Deco Mumbai - oral histories, programming, writing, editing and video production. When not at work, she stays up to date on pop culture, buys seasonal flowers, and hopes to one day have a "Read" pile of books taller than her "To-Be-Read" pile.

Pranjali Mathure

Associate - Projects

Pranjali is an architect and researcher by profession, a photographer and graphic designer by passion. She is always on the lookout for details and calls herself a "parallel line addict". Having pursued a Masters in Architectural History and Theory, from CEPT, Ahmedabad, combined with her love for the camera, she has developed an attachment with the city and the stories its built environment narrates. At Art Deco Mumbai, she reads, writes and designs for social media and outreach platforms. She hopes to make history interesting and accessible to a non-academic audience.

Theertha Gangadharan

Senior Research Associate

Theertha is a researcher with a background in History. She has a keen interest in Modern Indian history and Mumbai’s urban history. Her main interest lies in researching and recording the links between the city’s tangible and intangible heritage, and improving information accessibility in the digital age. A self-proclaimed flâneuse, she also enjoys all things vintage and pop from the 1990s and 2000s.